Everyone wants to know the future, and the most intelligent ask those well positioned professionals they respect what’s happening in their own industry. By asking enough folks they are able to cobble together an idea of where things are headed and then make decisions based on this data. As Professional Recruiters we’re asked this questions hundreds of time a year but never more than in the final month of the year…December. As we head toward the end of the Year I will attempt to address this more directly.

As we speak today, my thoughts are this;

- Best Industry to work in: Life Insurance and Financial Services. Why? Simple. Over the next 3 to 15 years the Baby Boomers will retire and take with them their Retirement Investment Income. This means they’ll be rolling Billions and Billions of dollars out of their company 401K plans and moving them to individual investments accounts. This is a truly massive shift of funds and all the Mutual funds, Insurance firms and Financial Services companies are going to be slugging it out for the biggest piece of the pie. The winner will provide the best Customer Experience and the best products. Both are highly dependent upon, yes, you guessed it, I.T. Get there and get in there now!

- Best Functional Role to be in: “Hybrid” roles between the business and I.T. For the last 18 months these have been the key hires for clients and the toughest to fill positions. Why? Because there are I.T. folks and Business folks and those that live between the netherworld of the two are rare indeed. If you’re working in I.T. you know the “reputation issue” I.T. has with the business and visa versa. If you’ve read any trade rag or newspaper discussing the I.T. industry you know those who can bridge this gap are in huge demand. The “hybrid” role is the latest attempt to address this issue. Go business facing role young man!

* My apology to Horace Greely for bastardizing his famous quote.

- Runner Up Functional Role: Sorry, but that’s in Part II of the “Road Signs for 2008” and it will be posted next week so look for it on Tuesday.